Sunday 15 April 2012

Kensington Palace

There are a number of palaces in and around London. Kensington has never been a particular favourite of mine. I don't find the architecture inspiring nor the inside when I visited a few years ago. Since then it has undergone a refurbishment so off I went to see how it has changed.

Many well known Royals have lived at the Palace including Queen Victoria, Princess Margaret (the present Queen's sister) and of course Princess Diana. The palace is still home to a number of lesser known members of the Royal family but soon it will be the London home of Prince William and his new bride Kate.

Surrounding the Palace is a wrought iron fence with these golden gates providing an entrance. When Diana died the fence and gates were covered with flowers so much so you could not see the Gardens as they were covered by tens of thousands of floral tributes. It became a place of homage to the young princess.


The gardens now are looking beautiful with the display of Spring flowers




Inside the palace I was less impressed. I found the new furnishing far too theatrical and tacky. History has many exciting stories to tell and I didn't think it needed cut out figures and flags placed everywhere! I felt as though I needed to be on a school trip with a worksheet for me to complete as I found the anwers to the clues left around.

Not for me this one! Now Buckingham Palace - that is one to visit 

7 comments:

  1. An interesting take on palaces. The gate and the gardens are splendid.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi There, I haven't been to London --so haven't visited any of the palaces... I'm sure I would agree with you about the inside furnishings though.. BUT--the gardens are lovely... WOW!!! Reminds me of the Biltmore House and Gardens here in the USA in Asheville, NC.. George and I live about 3 hours from Biltmore --and have season's passes to visit there. We go for the gardens since they do such a fabulous job with them.. The house is also beautiful ---but we just love the outside/grounds/gardens.... Hope you can visit here sometime.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice garden, that's for sure! I knew about the flower tribute to Diana but didn't know where it was, being unfamiliar with your part of the world. I am enjoying your blog, Fun60! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You captured this wonderful place beautifully. I always loved taking my student there when we went abroad in the summers. Cannot wait for the newly weds to move in. It is such a special place. genie

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't visited any of the palaces in London, I didn't know that you could! For me Kensington Gardens makes me think of Peter Pan... ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  6. the iron gate front at Kensington Palace is beautiful and art, it is the highlight of this place. There are many designs of iron gates made ​​history and the popularity of a building. You see the iron gates at the world famous: cua biet thu bang sat

    ReplyDelete

Thank-you for reading my blog. I would love to read your comments.